Document # 21
Committee Members:
Art Goddard, W6XD, Chairman
Dennis Bodson, W4PWF
Frank Fallon, N2FF
Bruce Frahm, K0BJ
Tom Frenaye, K1KI
Greg Milnes, W7OZ
Rod Stafford, W6ROD
Wayne Mills, N7NG/1, Staff Liaison
Highlights of Activity -- July 2002 to January 2003:
VHF/UHF Awards/Contests
A VHF/UHF awards/contests subcommittee was created by MSC Chairman Goddard in May 2002 with Director Frenaye as chairman, along with Vice President Harrison, MSD Manager Mills, and Ward Silver, N0AX (QST contributing editor and CAC member).
The subcommittee developed a 33-question survey concerning VHF/UHF awards and contests. The survey was sent via US mail from Newington in early October to 333 individuals and clubs selected from those who had participated in VHF/UHF contests during the last year or during a similar period five years ago. The survey was publicized and the survey form made available on the ARRL website as a PDF downloadable form. A copy of the survey form is included in Attachment 1 to this report. A total of 84 of the 333 mailed surveys were returned, along with an additional 154 as a result of the web posting, for a total of 238 surveys returned. About 15% of the respondents included letters or additional comments on the survey questions. As a whole, the respondents had an average of about 10 years of VHF/UHF contesting experience.
The subcommittee met via teleconference on December 3rd, December 19th and January 7th to discuss the various ideas, issues and concerns raised by the surveys, along with each member's input and experience. Contest Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND also participated in the last two conference calls as well as getting the original survey forms out and the responses back to the subcommittee.
The MSC will review a number of recommendations concerning both awards and contests at its pre-Board meeting in Newington on January 16, 2003. The review of ARRL VHF/UHF awards is nearly completed, but long-term work on contests will continue.
Incoming QSL Bureau Standard Operating Guidelines (SOG)
The final clean up of the SOG will be reviewed by the MSC at its pre-Board
meeting on January 16, 2003. The SOG
revision encourages more uniform operating and reporting standards among the
incoming QSL Bureaus, but contains no known change to existing Board
policy. The SOG update will be released
in early 2003.
Respectfully submitted,
Art
Goddard W6XD
MSC Chairman
A state of the sport survey - October 2002
Background
With a higher proportion of VHF-only licensees than ever before, one might expect that VHF/UHF contesting would be experiencing a surge in popularity. To the contrary, while the total QSOs being made in the multi-band contests seems steady, the number of logs - and thus the number of serious participants - has fallen off considerably since 1996. This has led the ARRL to ask you for your thoughts on why this might be happening and how to best address and reverse the trend. We'd also like to hear from you about the ARRL VHF/UHF awards program in general.
The survey is the result of a request from the ARRL Board to look into ways to increase participation. It is being sent to a random sample of regular top-scorers and average participants, regardless of their score, plus clubs that regularly participate in VHF/UHF club competitions. Our interest is in gathering information we can use to improve the participation and quality of both the various ARRL VHF/UHF contests and the ARRL VHF/UHF awards programs. The detail and quality of information in your answers is especially important to us.
The Survey
The survey below is organized into several areas of inquiry. The first group deals exclusively with contesting:
·
Existing contests - how can their
formats, rules, or reporting be improved such that activity and log submissions
are increased? This survey refers to
the following ARRL sponsored contests: January VHF Sweepstakes, June &
September VHF QSO Parties, August UHF Contest,
10 GHz and Up competition, and the Oct/Nov EME Contest
·
New contest formats - are there
new formats that would be attractive to the existing contest community?
·
New participants - what
improvements or additions to VHF/UHF contesting would attract more operators to
the sport? How can these operators be
reached?
A second area of interest is the ARRL VHF/UHF awards program and increasing the level of interest and participation. The existing awards such as VUCC, WAS, and DXCC, are derivatives of the HF awards program. There is some concern that these awards either have too high an initial qualification level or may be missing some interests of VHF/UHF operators. There are two groups of questions:
·
Existing awards - how can their
rules or categories might be improved so that more activity is encouraged?
·
New awards - are there new award
programs that would be attractive to VHF/UHF operators?
Responding
Each topic has a series of questions related to either VHF/UHF contesting or awards. Please select the answer that best matches your position or situation. Please feel free to extend your remarks (use additional pages if necessary). Your detailed comments are very important.
The survey should be returned to: VHF/UHF Survey, attn: Wayne Mills, N7NG, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington CT 06111. We would like to have the returned surveys by October 31st. A postage-paid reply envelope is enclosed for your convenience. You may copy the blank survey and distribute it to other amateurs, particularly to operators that may not be active in VHF/UHF contesting now. A summary of the results will be available in the future.
Thanks for your time and 73!
The ARRL Membership Services Committee
Please return to: VHF/UHF Survey, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111, by October 31st
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1) On which VHF/UHF bands are you active? (Check all that apply) |
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____ 50 MHz |
____ 902 MHz |
____ 5.7 MHz |
____ 75 GHz |
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____ 144 MHz |
____ 1.2 GHz |
____ 10 GHz |
____ 119 and Up |
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____ 222 GHz |
____ 2.3 GHz |
____ 24 GHz |
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____ 432 GHz |
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____ 3.4 GHz |
____ 47 GHz |
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2) In which VHF/UHF contests have you participated in the past year? (Check all that apply) |
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_____ ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes |
_____ ARRL June VHF QSO Party |
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_____ ARRL August UHF Contest |
_____ ARRL September VHF QSO Party |
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_____ ARRL EME Contest |
_____ ARRL 10 GHz and Up |
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_____ Non-ARRL VHF/UHF events |
_____ I have not participated in VHF/UHF events in the past year |
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3) Compared to five years ago: (Check one) |
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_____ I participate in more VHF/UHF contests |
_____ I participate in fewer VHF/UHF contests |
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_____ I participate in the same number of VHF/UHF contests |
_____ I do not participate in VHF/UHF events |
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_____ I was not licensed five years ago |
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4) If your participation increased or decreased over the past five years, what are the principle reasons for the change?
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5) Which VHF/UHF operating awards have you earned? |
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_____ VUCC (VHF-UHF Century Club) |
_____ WAS (6m and up) |
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_____ DXCC (6m and up) |
_____ Non-ARRL awards |
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_____ None |
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Regarding Existing ARRL VHF/UHF Contests
6)
What aspects of the ARRL VHF/UHF contest format would you change and why?
7)
What aspects of non-ARRL VHF/UHF contests that you find interesting should be
included in ARRL VHF/UHF events?
8) In ARRL VHF/UHF contests, which rules would you change and why?
9) Have you seen the expanded Contest Results on the ARRL Web (www.arrl.org/contests/results)? If so, what additions or changes would you make to the presentation?
10)
What additions or changes would you suggest regarding the editorial content
(write-up) of QST VHF/UHF contest articles?
11) Are you satisfied with the level of log-checking that is applied to ARRL VHF/UHF contest logs?
12) If you participate in ARRL VHF/UHF contests but don't submit a log, why?
13) If you don't submit a log, what changes would you suggest be made to ARRL-sponsored VHF/UHF contests that would make you more likely to send in a log?
14) Are there specific barriers that prevent you from participating or sending in an entry? If so, what are they?
New Contest Formats
15) If you could design your own VHF/UHF contest, what would it be like?
(Frequencies - Modes - Method and Type of Exchange - Categories - Scoring)
New Participants:
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16) How were you introduced to Amateur Radio contesting? (Please select one) |
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_____ I heard activity on the air and decided to join in |
_____ A friend / Elmer who is active in contesting |
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_____ I was invited to participate in a multioperator station |
_____ Presentation or speaker at a club meeting |
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_____ ARRL Field Day |
_____ Article in QST or other publication caught my attention |
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_____ Other (please specify) |
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17) Have you ever been a contest Elmer to another ham? If so, approximately how many?
18) How can the ARRL identify potential newcomers and encourage them to participate in contesting?
Existing ARRL VHF/UHF Awards
19) What aspect of the ARRL VHF/UHF award formats would you change and why?
20) What aspects of non-ARRL VHF/UHF awards programs do you find interesting which should be included in ARRL awards?
21) Which rules of the ARRL VHF/UHF awards programs would you change and why?
22) What do you like and not like about the management of the ARRL VHF/UHF awards program?
23) What would make you more likely to actively work for an award and apply for it?
New ARRL VHF/UHF Awards
24) If you could "design your own VHF/UHF awards", what would it be like?
(Frequencies - Modes - Categories - Rules - Certificates, Trophies, Other Awards)
One final question...
25) Are there questions or issues we should have asked about but forgot to include?
To help us understand who is participating, would you please complete the following:
26) Your callsign (optional) _______________ 27) QTH (state) ___________ 28) Age _______
29) # Years Licensed ______ 30) # of Years in VHF Contesting ______ 31) # of years in HF Contesting _______
32) Do you have Internet access? _______ 33) ARRL Member? ______ Yes ______ No
Please return to: VHF/UHF Survey, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111, by October 31st